Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 630 Armistice Agreement
The capital of the Song Dynasty, the peace talks between Song and Liao have reached the fourth round. In the first three rounds of negotiations, the two sides only reached two consensuses. One is to exchange hostages. The Song army captured hundreds of noble ministers and thousands of prisoners of war in Liaoyang Mansion , in exchange for all the Song people and Song soldiers who were taken captive by the Liao Kingdom in the past ten years.

Another consensus was to exchange land. The Liao Kingdom agreed to exchange Dongsheng Prefecture in Xijing for Yizhou and Juehua Island.

However, the two sides had a serious disagreement on the issue of the old coins. The Liao State demanded to restore the old coins of the Chanyuan Alliance, and gave the Liao State 20 bolts of silk and 10 taels of silver every year, but the Song Dynasty insisted on canceling the old coins. If an agreement cannot be reached, the Song Dynasty will not give Liao another one tael of silver.

One is that the Liao Kingdom lost the old coins, which had a huge impact on its finances. Therefore, Yelu Hongji took the restoration of the old coins as the basis for signing the covenant, while the Song Dynasty regarded the old coins as a great shame. In order to maintain the honor of the great country, the young emperor Zhao Xu even Resolutely disagreeing with the restoration of Sui coins, the two sides were deadlocked.

In the guest hall of Honglu Temple, this is the venue for the fourth round of negotiations between the Song and Liao parties. The first three rounds were held in Menxia Province. It was also the Liao Kingdom who hoped to remind the Song Dynasty to pay attention to the importance of friendly relations between the Liao and Song Dynasties.

But changing the venue is meaningless. The chief negotiator of the Song Dynasty, Xiang Guowen Yuanbo, took a tough attitude and refused to budge on the issue of the old coin.

It's no wonder that the Song Dynasty had the upper hand in the military, and it was the Liao Kingdom who took the initiative to seek peace. How could the Song Dynasty make concessions in the negotiations.

The two parties have been sitting dryly for two hours, and no one has spoken. The atmosphere in the VIP hall is very solemn. At this time, Wen Yanbo sighed, "Does Zhang Xiangguo think it is necessary to talk about the fifth round?"

Zhang Xiaojie also knew that it was impossible for the other party to change their position and agree to Suibi, but he also had a strict order from the emperor, so it was impossible to give in.

He was a little frustrated and said: "It seems that the consensus of the old currency cannot be reached, so what should we do with the consensus reached before?"

"Zhang Xiangguo, why don't we take a step back first! Sign an agreement based on the consensus we reached before."

"protocol?"

Zhang Xiaojie sneered and said: "There is no agreement on the terms of the old coins, isn't that what you need?"

"Zhang Xiangguo should first ask what kind of agreement it is."

"Please tell me, Mr. Wen, I will listen with all my ears."

Wen Yanbo said calmly: "Now we are in a state of war. In this state, it is impossible for the Song army to withdraw from Yizhou and Juehua Island. It is only possible to temporarily stop the state of war, withdraw troops, exchange prisoners of war, and exchange land. Implementation, I mean, we can first reach an agreement to stop the state of war, called an armistice agreement.”

"But... what's the difference between this and a covenant?"

"There is a big difference. After the signing of the covenant, the two sides are friendly countries. There will be normal trade and normal personnel exchanges. The signing of the armistice agreement does not change the state of hostility between the two sides. It just stops the war and allows the two sides to do something."

Zhang Xiaojie remained silent, and Yelu Pinghui, the deputy envoy next to him, said coldly: "Is it possible that after the exchange of prisoners and land, the two sides continued to fight."

"It depends on the wishes of both parties. If you don't want to fight, you can set a truce period. During this period, the two sides try to stop the war. If one party violates the agreement, the truce agreement can be torn up at any time. If both sides If you don’t want to fight, then within the truce period, the two sides can live in peace.”

"How long is this truce?" Zhang Xiaojie asked suddenly.

He also found that this was a good way. Since the covenant could not be reached, and the Song army had to withdraw and exchange prisoners of war, wouldn't it be the emperor's intention to sign a non-binding cessation agreement.

"The two sides can negotiate this, three months, half a year, one year, or three years, I think it's nothing less than these four!"

"Okay! Please allow me to ask the emperor for instructions."

Wen Yanbo smiled slightly, "No problem, we have plenty of time."

On the way back to the Liao State Pavilion, Yelu Pinghui was a little dissatisfied: "It is obvious that the Song Dynasty did not have the sincerity to reach an alliance agreement. They have already prepared this armistice agreement. This is their purpose, isn't it?"

Zhang Xiaojie sighed secretly, how could the emperor send such a stupid person as his deputy?

He said calmly: "Yelu Tongzhi, all negotiations will prepare several sets of plans. It is not surprising that the Song Dynasty prepared this armistice agreement in advance. These are not important. The important thing is, what do we need?"

"It means that Xiangguo Zhang is satisfied with the armistice agreement?"

"Yes!"

Zhang Xiaojie undeniably said: "If the covenant cannot be reached, what should Yizhou do? What about the Tokyo nobles and ministers who were captured by the Song army? Does Yelutong know any other way?"

"This" Yelu Pinghui didn't know what to say.

Zhang Xiaojie said indifferently: "Of course, this matter is not up to me to decide. I will fly a message to the emperor, and let the emperor decide whether to sign the armistice agreement?"

Back at the Liao State Pavilion, Zhang Xiaojie immediately wrote two text messages, reporting the negotiation and the final armistice agreement as concisely as possible, and then sent the eagle letter to Youzhou.

At present, Yelu Hongji, the emperor of the Liao Kingdom, is in the Dade Temple in Youzhou Prefecture. Thousands of monks are holding a grand water and land ceremony to save the souls of the soldiers of the Liao army.

In the Song-Liao War in the past few months, more than [-] people have been killed in the Liao Kingdom. It is reasonable to hold a ceremony to save the souls of the dead.

But for this ceremony, Yelu Hongji spent nearly 10 taels of silver, all the colored silks in the Nanjing Dao warehouse were exhausted, Nanjing Daolian’s money for recruiting recruits was useless, and the Han army had no military salary for several months It is said that Yelu Hongji spends a lot of money on Buddhist affairs, which is criticized by people.

As the Son of Heaven, Yelu Hongji would never consider such trivial matters, and no one dared to advise him. The reason why he stayed in Nanjing Road was because he was waiting for Zhang Xiaojie's negotiation news.

At noon that day, Xinying finally arrived in Youzhou.

In a corridor of the Nanjing Palace, Yelu Yixin hurriedly walked towards the emperor's imperial study.

He was supposed to arrive in Nanjing two days ago, but his trip was delayed by a lucrative business deal. The 50 taels of silver had already fallen into his pocket, which gave him a great taste of the sweetness and made him unable to extricate himself. He knew very well that if he wanted to continue this business, he had to convince Yelu Hongji.

Yelu Yixin hurriedly came to the imperial study room, he waited at the door for a while, an eunuch said: "President Xiangguo, please come in!"

Yelu Yixin walked into the imperial study, and saw the emperor Yelu Hongji standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back, his eyes were a bit gloomy.

Yelu Yixin felt guilty for a while, and said in a low voice for a while: "Your Majesty!"

Yelu Hongji glanced back at him, and then came back to his senses, "Xiangguo is here, hey! Zhang Xiaojie won't let me worry!"

Yelu Yixin felt relieved. It turned out that it was because of the negotiations between the Liao and Song Dynasties. He immediately regained his sharp thinking and asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, is the negotiation not going well?"

"The Song Dynasty refused to restore the old coins. As a result, they came up with a temporary truce agreement, exchanging land and hostages, saying that they could be torn up at any time. Is this what I want? Even if it is a covenant, it is not the same to tear up if I want to tear it up. ? The armistice agreement and the covenant are both the same thing in my eyes. What I want is old coins. If there are no old coins, who will pay for my military expenses? There are so many Buddhist temples, how can I support them?"

Yelv Yixin rolled his eyes and suddenly had an idea in his mind.

"Your Majesty, I know Zhang Xiaojie's ability very well. If even he can't make Song Chao back down, then it is inevitable that Song Dynasty will not pay the old coin. If the negotiation fails to get the old coin, then he can only get it back from the battlefield. "

Yelu Hongji had to admit that Yelu Yixin was right, what can't be obtained on the battlefield can't be expected to be obtained on the negotiating table.

He hesitated for a moment and said: "But the army needs to be repaired, and some rebels need to be suppressed. I'm afraid we won't be able to go to war in a short time."

"Your Majesty! Even if the Song army is defeated in two years' time, we must let them pay off the old coins owed today with interest. We are not in a hurry."

Yelu Hongji walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said to Yelu Yixin: "You are the Prime Minister, you should be very clear about the current financial situation of the imperial court. If there is no old coin, I am worried that there will be big financial problems."

Yelu Yixin seized this opportunity and said, "Your Majesty knows why I arrived at Nanjing Road two days late?"

Yelu Hongji was startled, and looked at Yelu Yixin in puzzlement.

Yelu Yixin said: "A Japanese businessman found Weichen and bought 50 catties of pig iron in Liaoyang Mansion's inventory with [-] guan. This is the agreement we signed with Japan. With this [-] guan, Your Majesty Only the Tokyo Palace can continue to be built.”

Yelu Hongji frowned, "The Japanese bought the pig iron, so how will our army prepare for war?"

"Your Majesty, there is a huge iron mine in the south of Liaoyang Prefecture. Japan bought the pig iron, so we will expand mining and smelting, double the number of miners, and 20 Chinese miners will continue to mine day and night. Our pig iron will come out continuously, not only to satisfy Its own needs can also supply Japan in large quantities, so that Japan has the ability to fight against the Song Army in Kunzhou."

"Would it be okay if all the Han people were sent to mine?"

"Your Majesty, the Han people are really not good at fighting, but they are easy to manage and have high obedience. Using them for mining and smelting, I think it is very suitable."

Yelu Hongji didn't care too much about the life and death of the Han people, he nodded, "Leave this matter to the prime minister, and besides, I want to expand trade with Japan and see if I can get warships from them , next time the Japanese envoy must come to Beijing."

"The minister obeys the order!"

Yelu Hongji took two steps with his hands behind his back, and then said: "Send a letter to Zhang Xiaojie, agree to sign the armistice agreement, agree to the proposal of the Song Dynasty, and the time limit is set to three years."

Although the three-year truce was proposed by the Song Dynasty, Yelu Hongji also accepted it. He considered that it would take three years to prepare. The Liao army should also have a navy army, and iron fire thunders could be built on a large scale.

(End of this chapter)